I sincerely hope the portacabins opposite platform 7 aren't indicative of the final product. Alas I think they will be. If so it will be utter shite. Cardiff planners really need to be asking developers to raise the bar.

I read somewhere that railtrack are investing 80m, I can't see how a few portacabins on Steel struts can cost so much

Does it look like this? Scroll down a bit.

http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/ImprovingtheRailwayAroundCardiff/

I've seen the ones Jantra means; they are hideous.

Are they not just portacabins for the builders though?

any pics of it?

I went to Central this evening to have a look at the 'temporary portacabins/permanent extension' development.

Jantra - unless I'm being a bit dim, I couldn't really work out what it was that you are fearing is to be the extension. The only portacabin type buildings that I could see are clearly just 2 portacabins on top of each other, aren't they? The sun was close to setting so it was very difficult to see the full picture, but I couldn't really see anything other than these 2 portacabins and a pile driver

Meanwhile Tottenham Court Road Tube station gets a 480 million refurbishment....
Wales gets peanuts

Wizard

If you're at the back of the station there used to be a vehicle entrance into the railtrack storage about 50 years to the left of the entrance. They are building at the top of the concrete ramp inside. If you're stood on platform 7 towards the grange town end you will see a series of blue portacabins on a steel frame. The frame has an edge around it that looks like a platform.

Or the 800 million on St Pancras...

Or the 500 million refurb of Victoria Underground Station

Or the 210 million upgrade of Stratford Station...

we get it. you are unhappy that the World City of London is having significant make over of some of its busiest stations and you think Cardiff should have the same.

We'd all like to see improvements to the station - I wouldn't mind seeing the rear car park halved with offices/retail mix in the car park nearest the station and integrated with the back entrance a bit like M/cr Piccadilly. But we're not going to see that sort of expenditure.

I appreciate rail is not yet a devolved issue but we have to accept that Railtrack will spend where they think they can get a return. They're not going to develop integrated offices and retail if they don't think they will make any money out of it.

Cardiff hasn't had one single tenant move into its enterprize zone within two years. Central Square looks like mogadishu. WG and CCC have done nothing to encourage external investors that we would be a good bet for investment. If you want to blame anyone blame our politicians for letting Cardiff and wales fall further behind.

Rather than looking to blame the English at enver juncture a period of introspection would be a better more productive option. We have a failing economy in Wales, we have low productivity, we generate very low tax receipts and we have little or no capital base to invest. We have people who despite the English and want independence from them yet those very same people then want the English to subsidise our infrastructure so it matches their own. It is rank hypocrisy. either you want to be part of the union or you do not. if you don't then perhaps you can start campaigning for Wales to be given £9bn less each year and for the 100k so jobs that we have as a result of being in the union being transferred back to England.

In other words - stop your whining and don't bite the hand that feeds.

Or the 4.3 billion investment in terminal 5

So Mr Right wing Unionist you keep quoting that we are supported by England...
What I want to see is infrustruture and transport devolved and for Wales to have 5% of the UK budget to utilise as we sit fit... Not anymore not any less.. On a equal footing...
How about that?

Highly unlikely that this is the final development, seeing as the project to remodel Central isn't due to start until 2014. It may be that the track alterations will be finished before the new building, and so they're building a sort of temporary station to allow new services to begin before the actual concourse and ticket office is complete. As for £80m, that sounds a bit too high, but I know in the past any figure quoted has treated the redevelopment of Queen Street and Central as one project split into two phases.

if that's aimed at me you need to work on your quoting? i'll respond once oyu've confirmed who that post was for as clearly it is out of sync with what the frenchman actually posted.

If it looks like the start of this then it may be the new building, if not then they are just some portacabins!

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/assets/0/72/4294967297/30064771426/30064774115/30064774117/42ade224-7e35-46b3-a915-f5eaae59e33f.jpg

From the Network Rail website;

'Spring 2014: New station building work starts at Cardiff Queen Street and work starts on platform 8 at Cardiff Central station

2014: Building work starts on the new station entrance at the south side'

Which does suggest that the portacabins are just that.

Link to the south Wales page;

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/south-wales/

I've spoken to a few rail workers on platform 7 and they have said it is the new mess room which is part of the overall development

Here it is:



As one can see, it has architectural qualities which are reminiscent of Berlin's Hauptbahnof.....

Cardiff Central is most people's first impression of Wales so i think the WAG should make a grant to whomever it is and give the whole station a brand new image or even rebuild, Reading st has just had 100's of millions spent on it and its 'old' station was 10 times better than our current one in Cardiff! also, when Swansea's station was redeveloped it had a HUGE positive effect on everyone that uses it from visiting footy supporters to commuters and it was even hailed in the 'Todays Railways' magazine as a massive succsess....as Capital city central should be one of the best stations in the UK!

theres a very good report on Walesonline posted 2 hrs ago about the government plans for the whole station area....

Here's a link to the article Christopher mentions: Gateway to Wales

The Gateway to Wales sets the tone for a significant number of visitors..
Train Stations are vitally important..
Birmingham New Street station renovation was completed in April 2013.. They spent 600 million on the project..
We must be bold to get ahead - do not go lightly into the night..
Wales Capital needs a station area and Majestic Gateway to be a statement.
Do your business and be entertained work and live in Wales

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardiffs-vision-gateway-wales-moves-5849845

massivley agree....Cardiff Central should be a showpeice station of the highest quality!

I went to Birmingham New Street, before, during, and after the rennovations, and I really liked it. It gave you a sense that the place means something, and I got similar vibes setting foot off a train in Glasgow Central.

I think that any tasteful investment would be money prudently spent as it sets a tone and ambience about the City region - and will be there for decades... If we want Cardiff Central to be a transport hub that is well used - the Powers that be must make both statement amd legacy with this crucial development...
all major cities get judged by first impressions

How much do the people of the forum think would be a realistic figure for getting the station up to scratch? Ten million? Twenty? Thirty? Forty?

Sadly, I feel that no matter how much we tart up the station, renovating this and that, adding new features, and improving the way that travelers are received won't mean a damn thing if we don't do SOMETHING about the buildings directly across.

I've just got back from training it down through France and around parts of Spain. The differences in quality of stations, rail infrastructure and stock is stark. I don't expect Cardiff to be competing with St Pancras or Gare Nord but when you step of trains in Catalonian backwaters with populations less than a third of Cardiff's and they are larger, newer and have better waiting/retail services it is dissapointing to come home to Cardiff central - god knows what new visitors are thinking.

I absolutely agree. Most of our railway network/rolling stock in these parts is much more 'second than first world' when compared to most of our western European peers.

Saying that, I'm also aware that (as a layperson) it appears that some of the countries where major public infrastructure works have been undertaken (eg Spain) do not appear to be benefiting economically from the billions of transport investments that have been made there.

Obviously, good transport infrastructure is not the only tool in the arsenal to attract investment, but it does concern me that we could improve things dramatically without finding that the benefits necessarily follow...

The arguement about train stations on the continent is that train travel there is over much larger distances, this no longer stands up in my opinion as much as it did 20 yrs ago, train travel in the UK has gone through the roof and its set to grow massively of the next decade, Cardiff needs not just a revamped station but a whole new way of thinking about its transport policy, its lucky in the sense that it does have track where it needs to be but come on WAG stop the talking and dithering that seems to go on year after year after year and spend what needs to be spent...if it wants to be a world city it has to think like one!

I saw earlier today that ALL of the back entrance to Central (the red brick entrance and green canopy) has been demolished. It was no oil painting but I didn't realise that it was all going.

Just to clarify: only the first phase of Birmingham New Street's revamp was finished last year; the majority of it is still being redeveloped and will open next year.

I think the new rear entrance has always been a big part of the plan. No bad thing as I'm not sure everyone is aware that a south entrance actually exists.

I believe full demolition was necessary to install the additional platform etc. not sad to see it go, as already said I don't think many people knew it existed!

It was used to represent Barry Station on Gavin & Stacey I seem to remember

It'll be replaced by a nicer south entrance as part of the works so in the long term its all positive.

Dont know if this video has been seen before

http://vimeo.com/71686460